How Does the Crispy Kiss Taste by Emma Urbanová
Gymnázium Jozefa Lettricha 2, Martin
číslo 45
´Mary! So, will you lend me the euro?´ My best friend Mary was sitting on a chair and the fact, that I immediately needed a portion of bacon crisps, otherwise, I would die, wasn´t getting across to her.
´Martina!´ it was only when I addressed her with her first name that she started to take notice. She was trying to come up with a sort of excuse, so that she didn't have to lend me that unfortunate euro for a packet of crisps in the school buffet. ´You know... I told myself that I was not going to spend any money today.´ I nearly fainted. ´Mary, Mary, Mary! You aren’t going to spend any money yourself, you will only lend me some and I will give it back tomorrow!´ I hoped that after this plea she would eventually give me the euro. But she started: ´I don’t know... ´
That was enough. I knew I had to change my tactics. ´Should I fall on my knees or what? Friends are here to help each other! So don’t mess around and do something for me at least once!´ That argument about friendship might have assured her, because she took her purse out and picked one euro from it with a loud sigh.
´Thanks, Mary! I owe you a favour!´ I said when I was already running to the buffet with one and only aim - to buy a packet of crisps. Bacon crisps.
I was in a hurry to get to the lesson in time. When I imagined, what our Maths teacher’s face would be like, if I came late, I started to run faster and I didn’t notice anything around me.
´Hey! Watch out! Be careful where you are stepping!´
A boy was struggling to get up from the ground, looking angry.
´Sorry´, I tried to smile at him, but he was only looking at the packet of crisps in my hand. ´Crisps!´ he spitted the word with disgust. ´Do you know what rubbish it contains? ´
´So what? I like crisps and it’s my thing, what I eat. So leave me alone and take care of yourself! ´ I ran down the corridor rather fed up. So, a boy would give me a lecture? I was so angry, that I almost forgot the crisps. As I opened the packet, the delicious, salty taste of crisps lingered on my tongue. When I was eating the crisps, it seemed there were no problems and everything was perfect...
In less than a couple of days I have met Mr Critical again. This time he was leaning on door of the class and drinking coca-cola. I couldn’t resist a provocative note: ´Do you know, what rubbish it contains? ´
He looked disappointed.´ I' m sorry. I was just in a bad mood then... and when I saw that packet of crisps in your hand...´ ´Wait...you don’t like crisps?´ I interrupted the avalanche of his apologies. He frowned. ´You know, you remind me of my sister. She, too, was stuffing herself with those yucky crisps. She ate them for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner too. Last week they took her to hospital with a severe stomach ache and the doctors now can’t find out what’s wrong with her. I' m afraid that I might lose her. ´
´Oh, I didn’t know that... ´ I forgave him in the very second that he was preaching about the crisps. We stood next to each other, numb.
´By the way, I' m Tom,´ he said. ´Lola,´ I said my favourite nickname. ´Lola Crispola,´ he grinned.´ I tried to smile, but I was thinking feverishly in my head. Can somebody find herself in a hospital only because she ate too many crisps? But then I got it out from my head and kept on with talking to Tom.
´A date with Tom? Again?!? But you were with him yesterday! ´ objected Mary, when I stood up from the chair. ´For heaven’s sake! How many times do I have to tell you, that it’s NOT A DATE!´ I yelled, my face turning red. I was really angry, because Mary had exactly guessed, where I was about to go. ´What a couple!´, she muttered, leaving me feel angry inside, because she was right. I was spending quite a lot of time with Tom, starting to feel warming up to him. I had long forgotten that unpleasant guy whom I bumped into in the buffet.
I love Thursdays! Guess, why...because on Thursdays there is half-price sale on crisps in our school buffet! Let’s go!
In the morning I have bought right three packets and quickly stuffed them into my mouth. I have nearly eaten the wrapping itself! In the next break I have bought another packet, before they were gone. And then I was offered the pepper ones! I love these the most. I didn’t wait and I grabbed full fists. I started to feel dizzy on Maths. I thought I needed more crisps, so shortly after the bell my steps led to the buffet again. And then it happened. I broke down as soon as I put the first crisp into my mouth. Right in front of all the students, in a crowded corridor, I fainted.
He was the one who saved me. He was the first who saw me lying on the floor with a packet of crisps in my hand. He called the ambulance. It wasn’t him who didn’t mind just like the others, who were just staring at me actlessly. He went with me all the way to hospital. He was with me, when they resuscitated me, even when my stomach was being washed out. He heard, when the doctor was telling my parents that bad news, which I accidentally heard, too: ´You came just in time. If your daughter had eaten one more, her kidneys wouldn’t have lasted. A surgery is needed.´
´Knock knock,´ I heard, when I was lying sadly on my hospital bed. Tom´s spiky head appeared behind the door. ´Look what I brought you!,´ he says enthusiastically and shows me a bag of crisps. My eyes sparkle in amazement and I grab the bag instantly. Tom sits down on my bed and curiously gazes at me. I put only two crisps in my mouth but in the very second I spit them into the bin. ´Yuk!´ That beautiful taste of crisps was long gone. And when I think of all the things I´ve been through because of crisps, well... I put the bag of crisps on the table, disgusted. Tom stares at me in delight. He stands up, approaches me and kisses me. He can taste the bacon flavour of crisps on my lips. Because this is what a crispy kiss tastes like.